Hogwart’s wizard brings characters to life
Fair 1/2: Principal Sharon Prestidge as a Hogwart’s wizard, flanked by staff members Pip Day, left, Heidi Trott and Cam Head at Māpua’s book character day. Photo: Anne Hardie.
For one day, a Hogwart’s wizard was in charge of Māpua School last week, bringing favourite book characters to life in the school grounds.
The characters stepped out of their pages for the wizard, aka principal Sharon Prestidge, to celebrate the week-long annual book fair that raises funds for new library books.
With wand in hand, Sharon says the school always gets good support from the community for the book fair and in past years has raised up to $1,000.
“The parents really support it and buy lots of books. We’re happy because kids are reading books and we’re happy because we can buy more books for the library.”
Scholastic Books delivers new books for the fair and the school receives a commission for each book sold, which is then used to buy new books. “We need parents to keep reading to their kids. It’s absolutely crucial and we keep encouraging it. The love of literature is such an important thing for young people.”